Royce & Associates LP Boosts Stock Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after buying an additional 223,203 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 1.25% of OceanFirst Financial worth $13,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the first quarter valued at $39,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth $62,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the first quarter worth $150,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.30.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.49. 171,773 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 257,707. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.90. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $13.41 and a 1-year high of $21.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. The company had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.79 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.71%.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

OceanFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for OceanFirst Bank N.A. that provides community banking services to retail and commercial customers. It accepts money market accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, non-interest-bearing accounts, and time deposits, that includes brokered deposits to retail, government, and business customers.